The star-studded list could go on and on with many left off

Every Friday, Sporting News’ Ryan Fagan will take a deeper look at the players making on-the-field headlines—both good and bad—with the help of advanced baseball metrics. Unless otherwise specified, statistics have been gathered from baseball-reference.com and fangraphs.com, two thoroughly indispensable websites.

This week, we’ll look at three of the leading candidates for the National League rookie of the year award. This year’s NL class is stacked, a group that’s far superior to the AL class. Guys who didn’t make this list, like Julio Teheran, Hyun-jin Ryu, Evan Gattis, Didi Gregorius, Nolan Arenado, Jim Henderson and Jedd Gyrko, would merit consideration for the top spot over in the junior circuit. (all stats through Thursday)

This is the type of impact that Puig has had on the Dodgers: His veteran teammates wearing t-shirts bearing his name while going through their pregame warmup routines. He is no ordinary rookie. Even though he didn’t make his debut until June 3, he’s probably the favorite at this point. He’s batting .377/.437/.549, with 11 homers and seven stolen bases. And he’s adjusting to pitchers and becoming more patient. After walking just seven times in his first 42 games, he’s drawn 12 walks in his past 15 games.

The stat: 194 wRC+

What wRC+ isn’t: Wanting Roger Clemens’ Hair Highlights

What wRC+ is: Weighted Runs Created Plus. This stat is similar to OPS+ (and other metrics) in that it attempts define a player’s overall offensive production, but this one translates that production into how many runs a player is worth to his team. It’s based off wOBA, designed to include park effect and set up so 100 is league average. As the Fangraphs’ description explains, every point above or below 100 represents a percentage point. So, a player with a wRC+ of 131 is producing runs 31 percent better than league average.

What this means for Puig’s ROY case: For the moment, let’s stick with comparing Puig to his fellow rookies. His 194 wRC+ is easily the best for anyone contending for this award; among rookies with at least 150 at-bats. Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams is next at 138 and Atlanta’s Evan Gattis is at 114 (for argument’s sake, Philly’s Darin Ruf has an exceptional 167 wRC+ in 89 at-bats and L.A.’s Scott Van Slyke is at 134 in 95 at-bats). Over in the AL, Tampa Bay’s Wil Myers has an outstanding 157 wRC+ in 158 at-bats.

There is no conversation about the best position-player rookie in the NL. It’s Puig. Heck, if he maintains his pace, or close to this pace, he’s going to get into the MVP conversation, too. There isn’t a runaway favorite, and the Dodgers’ record since his arrival (41-18, easily the best in the majors) will hold sway with the voters.

He is the brightest bright spot in an otherwise dreary season in South Florida. Fernandez, the 14th overall pick of the 2011 draft, has a 2.58 ERA and, in 132 2/3 innings and has allowed just 91 hits and struck out 143 batters. He’s given up just eight homers in his 22 starts, and he just keeps getting better with a 1.79 ERA in a dozen starts since the beginning of June.

The stat: 2.83 FIP

What FIP isn’t: Fishing in Pawtucket

What FIP is: Fielding Independent Pitching. This stat looks at the absolutes controlled by a pitcher and not his fielders—strikeouts, homeruns, walks and hit-by-pitch—as explained in this handy Fangraphs video. The major league-average FIP over the past five years has ranged from 3.94 to 4.32.

What this means for Fernandez’s ROY case: This number is especially important in determining the value of a pitcher like Fernandez, who plays on a team that’s 27 games under .500 and is below-average defensively, as a group.

Here is the complete list of players with a better FIP than the Marlins’ exciting young right-hander: Matt Harvey, Adam Wainwright, Anibal Sanchez, Clayton Kershaw, Felix Hernandez, Max Scherzer. That’s pretty impressive company, and you’ll notice that none of those players are rookies who will compete with Fernandez for the NL ROY award (Harvey threw 56 innings last year, just over the 50 innings limit to be a “rookie”). Shelby Miller (3.10) and Hyun-jin Ryu (3.28) are the only other rookies with a FIP under 3.50.

Less than 24 hours after taking a Carl Crawford line drive directly off his pitching elbow, Miller was throwing in the outfield with his teammates. That was a very good sign for the Cardinals and their young starter. In 22 starts, he has a 2.89 ERA and a 3.77 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He’s very much a part of their postseason rotation plans.

The stat: 27.0 K%

What K% isn’t: Kramerica Industries

What K% is: Strikeout percentage. Simply, the percentage of total batters that a pitcher strikes out.

What this means for Miller’s ROY case: In 121 1/3 innings, Miller has struck out 132 batters. His K% is just a fraction below Fernandez (27.0 percent) and well ahead of any other rookies with a qualifying number of innings (Teheran is next, at 21.3 percent). Actually, it’s tough to separate Fernandez and Miller, statistically. They’re very close in K/9 (Miller 9.79, Fernandez 9.70), ERA (Miller 2.89, Fernandez 2.58), WAR (Miller 2.3, Fernandez 3.0), xFIP (Miller 3.31, Fernandez 3.12), K/BB (Miller 3.77, Fernandez 3.04).

If the numbers stay similar down the stretch, that might actually be a boost for Puig. Miller and Fernandez could split votes, or the voters could just decide to go with the offensive player, even though Puig made his debut later in the year.